Contentment
by Knifez
Summary: There are two kinds of wives...the nagging, troublesome wife and the loving, comforting wife. Shikamaru is just glad he married someone who can be both.


**This idea had been hounding me for a while so I figured I'd go for it. I hope everyone who reads this enjoys!**

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Temari was _not_ having a good day.

Firstly, Shikamaru was not there in bed when she woke up in the morning, and he hadn't been there when she went to sleep. There were no signs of his presence in their bedroom either so she figured he must've passed out with Naruto at the Hokage's office.

Secondly, Shikadai forgot his lunch on the way to the Academy, so instead of enjoying her morning tea on the porch like she normally did she had to make the fifteen minute walk to give it to him.

Thirdly, some idiot had knocked into her on her walk back to her house, spilling his hot tea all over her.

Fourthly, when she opened the fridge to make breakfast for herself, she realized it was way too warm in there so she spent the better part of her morning with her sleeves rolled up and hands filled with tools, banging and poking at the stupid machine until she finally got it working again.

 _Fifthly_ , (yes, there was more!) six year old Shikadai had come home from school asking for his father because he wanted to start working with shadows, and despite the fact that she was excited that her normally unmotivated son was showing signs of wanting to learn, she had to tell him that his father was busy and that she didn't know when he'd be back. He _should_ be back for dinner, she had told him.

Needless to say, she was in quite the foul mood.

So there she was. It was almost midnight and she was sitting at their kitchen table, glaring daggers at Shikamaru's untouched plate of food. She was going to wait there until he came back, and if that idiot knew what was good for him it would be _soon_.

Shikamaru knew very well that Temari didn't like it when he went more than twenty-four hours without coming home. It didn't happen very often, but still occurred enough where it had been the subject of several arguments.

She remembered tucking in a disappointed Shikadai and the knot of anger in her stomach tightened.

The clock above the stove ticked on and on, and Temari sat there in the dim light of the kitchen, waiting for her husband to return.

She supposed she dozed off, because when she sensed him suddenly appear at the door the clock above the stove read almost two in the morning.

She tried to shake herself awake, the anger in her stomach still very much present.

Keys jingled in the lock. The door opened, and there he stood.

Shikamaru jumped at the sight of Temari sitting there. His eyes quickly flicked from her annoyed face to the stone-cold dinner that had been laid out for him hours previously. "Hey…" he said cautiously.

"Hello _darling_ ," she said, making him flinch. Temari only used pet names when she was mad. "Dinner's ready, you must be hungry."

Her tone booked no argument, and her husband reluctantly lowered himself into the chair across from her. He picked up his fork and pushed around the food half-heartedly. He obviously wasn't hungry, but Temari would make sure he suffered for his crimes. She would force the cold, soggy food down his throat herself.

She found herself growing increasingly irritated as Shikamaru refused to put any of the food in his mouth. Seconds turned into minutes and she sat there fuming. Angry at him for being so nonchalant about the whole thing, that he wouldn't look at her, that he wouldn't eat his _damn dinner_.

"Idiot!" she finally snapped, standing up and stalking over to him.

"Eh?" he looked alarmed, dropping the fork onto the plate, where it made an irritating clinking sound.

Temari's eye twitched, "your wife slaves over a hot stove and you can't be bothered to eat it? What's the matter with you, dammit?" her left hand rose up, intending to lightly cuff the slacker on the back of the head, as she often did to him.

But her hand did not meet its target. Temari's eyes widened as her loose fist thunked into Shikamaru's palm. His eyes were still on his plate of food, but he had twisted his shoulder and caught the fist easily enough.

He had _blocked_ it.

She felt her anger dissipating from her stomach, being replaced by something more foreboding.

Whenever she smacked the back of his head he would always rub the spot and mutter how 'troublesome' she was, and she knew that he enjoyed it and it was his favorite term of endearment for her.

She could count on _one hand_ how many times he had blocked her slaps over the course of their _eleven_ year marriage. None of them were good.

"Not now, Temari." He said quietly, releasing her hand and getting up from the table. He took his full plate from the table and cleared it. He put the dishes in the sink and headed for their bedroom.

Temari unfroze from her spot near the kitchen table, anger replaced with worry.

She walked over to their bedroom. Shikamaru had changed out of his standard outfit and was dressed only in a pair of black sweatpants. He was lying on his back on their bed, not even bothering to get under the covers. His arms were crossed behind his head and he looked blankly at the ceiling.

She sat down on the bed next to him. She reached out and put a hand to his face, brushing her thumb over his cheek.

He seemed to decompress at her touch. He let out a long breath and his body relaxed slightly. He turned his head slightly to look at her.

Their eyes met.

"What's wrong, Shikamaru?" She asked.

He sighed slightly and turned to look back at the ceiling. "I screwed up."

That was one of things she loved most about Shikamaru. He was always honest with her and he never hid anything from her. She never got the "I don't wanna talk about it" line. She was someone he could confide in, and it made her happy.

"At work?"

He nodded. "One of the genin teams we sent out on a C-rank mission was killed by an unexpected rogue ninja from Iwa."

Temari winced. Shikamaru's worst fear was having people under his command die, that was no secret to her or the village. "You said it wasn't expected, it can't be your fault."

"You don't understand," he said, "Naruto initially wanted to send a team of chunin but I suggested he send the genin since it seemed like a cakewalk mission."

Temari let that digest. "C'mon, you can't have predicted it," she said gently, scooting over closer to him and curling up next to him. "We're shinobi, Shikamaru. Unexpected stuff happens to us all the time, and people die. You can't always beat yourself up over it. It's not your fault."

Shikamaru sighed and removed one of his arms from behind his head, wrapping it around his longterm wife. "You're probably right, as usual."

"Of course I am," she smirked, "I'm always right, and if you still haven't realized this after all this time I think I might have to file for divorce."

He laughed then, and Temari laughed too. Seeing a good time to change the subject to something happier, she quickly added, "Shikadai was asking for you today."

"Yeah?" A mixture of happiness and guilt filled Shikamaru's face.

"Yeah, he wants to start training with shadows."

"Tch, I think he's more like you after all. He's only six and wants to learn? It wasn't until I was eight that my father finally forced me into learning. He's got all your ambition."

"Which is good," Temari told him.

"Oh, for sure." He gave her a squeeze. "It's just…with my smarts and your talent and motivation…our kid is gonna be a real badass."

The two shared a laugh and Shikamaru turned onto his side to face his wife. "Naruto gave me the day off tomorrow," he told her, "we can sleep in late and Shikadai can have the day off from the Academy. I can start training Shikadai and cook you dinner."

Temari's eyes shone, "Oh? What's the special occasion? Is tomorrow Mother's Day or something?"

"No, you just deserve it," he said in that matter-of-fact, 'it's so obvious' tone that simultaneously annoyed her and made her happy. He gave her one of his rare soft smiles then, the one that still made her heart pound in her chest and a blush burn on her face even after all their time together. "Seriously, I don't know what I did to deserve you, you troublesome woman."

She leaned in and kissed him. "You deserve me because you're a good person, and you have to be pretty damn good to deserve all this," she untangled one hand from his hair to gesture at herself. "Don't forget that, crybaby."

Shikamaru's smirk was marred by a yawn. Another yawn soon followed and soon he was struggling to keep his eyes open. Temari yanked the covers from under their bodies and laid them over her exhausted husband. She removed his hair tie and ruffled his long hair so that it splayed out all around his face and pillow.

He grabbed her and pulled her close. "I love you so much," he whispered into the top of her head.

She smiled into his chest. "I love you too."

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 **Welp, I hope everyone enjoyed! Reviews are appreciated, I'm still pretty new to writing for Naruto so any and all comments are appreciated.**

 **Until the next time, Ciao!**


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